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CD-ROM/DVD Drive won't work

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by love2cats

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When we put a CD-R in it shows a little disc with an hour glass on the desktop. When we click on the drive it says, "please insert disc" as if there is not one in there already. It does not matter if it is a blank disc or one with something on it. I really need to get these to work so I can back up files and save files on a disc. Could someone please help me? The top drive is DVD RW. It will not recognize or play any type of disc. The bottom drive is DVD ROM. It will play an audio CD. It played an old Family Values Tour CD .It will play a commercially recorded CD. It played or opened up a disc I had for a free 1175 hours AOL disc. It will not recognize a blank/empty CD-R.
System Manufacturer MEDIONPC
System Model MS-6743
My OS is Microsoft Windows XP Home Edition
Version:5.1.2600 Service Pack: 2.0 I have never installed or replaced any drivers.

6 replies

by robo_dev

Since your bottom drive is a DVD-ROM, it won't recognize a blank CD.

Either the lens of the DVD-RW is dirty, the drive has failed completely, or maybe one of it's connection is loose.

In Windows control panel, device manager, hardware, you should see both drives listed...are they both there?

Does the top drive sound like it's spinning up normally (whirrrrrrrr) and does it sound like it's trying to read teh disk (ca-chunk, ca-chunk) or is it dead silent?

Repeated chunking means dirty lens, silence typically means you need a new drive.

by love2cats

Thank you for taking the time to reply to my post. The DVD RW makes sounds like it is trying to start spinning. I don't really have the money to buy a replacement drive and I wouldn't know how to put it in anyway. Co you have a suggestion about what kind of external burner I might look for on ebay?

by oh smeg

If you constantly leave a Disc in the drive it's running all the time that the computer is switched on so it shortens the life of the drive considerably. If you have left Media in the burner you may have effectively worn out the drive and it needs replacing.

This happens because the LED that generates light to read or burn the disc's has a limited life. Once it is failed and no longer producing any light it's cheaper to replace the Drive as there are optical Lenses built into the head that reads/Burns the cost of repairing this type of drive far exceeds the cost of a new drive.

As stated previously the DVD Rom will only read Disc's not burn them so it is useless to place Recordable disc's in that drive as it can not do anything with them and will insist that it is empty and needs media placed in it. As the DVD RW can not read any Disc placed in it the most likely thing is that the Laser Head has stopped producing enough light to Read/Burn Disc's while you can try a Drive Cleaner I find that when they reach this stage it's just easier to replace the drive with a new one known to work.

Col

by Former member

If there are any drivers that came with the drive then put this in and load on the drivers, once loaded you might need to re-start your computer. Also your drive might be just a " + " plus format drive, so with this format (+) it will not read the (-) minus disks, so you will have to check your dive and find out which format it is, (+) plus or (-) minus.?formats. You need to get disks that relate to your dive.

Please post back if you have any more problems or questions.

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